New Books and Media

From the publisher's website: Building on the groundbreaking research of Irreducible Mind and Beyond Physicalism, Edward Kelly and Paul Marshall gather a cohort of leading scholars to address the most recent advances in the psychology of consciousness. Currently emerging as a middle ground between warring fundamentalisms of religion andscience, an expanded science-based understanding of nature finally accommodates empirical realities of spiritual sorts while also rejecting rationally untenable overbeliefs.

The vision sketched here provides an antidote to the prevailing postmodern disenchantment of the world and demeaning of human possibilities. It not only more accurately and fully reflects our human condition but engenders hope and encourages ego-surpassing forms of human flourishing. It offers reasons for us to believe that freedom is real, that our human choices matter, and that we have barely scratched the surface of our human potentials. It also addresses the urgent need for a greater sense of worldwide community and interdependence - a sustainable ethos - by demonstrating that under the surface we and the world are much more extensively interconnected than previously recognized. 

Further information at the publisher's website: Rowman & Littlefield.

From the publisher's website: A guide to dream precognition and its implications

Exploring the mind-blowing implications of precognition for our lives, including how our present thoughts actually shape--or shaped--our past, Eric Wargo explains how to detect precognitive dreams through characteristic features and outlines a set of clear principles to help guide dreamworkers, illustrated through real precognitive dream experiences.

Further information at the publisher's website: Inner Traditions.

From the publisher's website: Within days of the widely-publicised disaster of 1912, stories began circulating of extraordinary omens and individuals who supposedly had supernatural premonitions of the disaster. Furthermore, four fictional works – one dating as far back as twenty-six years – came to be seen as anticipating the disaster.  

Between 1960 and 2006, five major commentators published extended analyses of the alleged premonitions, none of which is now easily accessible to an English readership. This book examines them all in detail. The whole treatment of the matter opens up fascinating questions concerning the paranormal, but also raises and leaves unresolved crucial issues specific to premonitions and how they can be legitimately examined. 

Readers are left to make their own judgement on Titanic premonitions.

Further information at the publisher's website: Matador. 

From the publisher's website: Courageous scientists challenge the dominant paradigm of reality. Why are they so brave and what does their research reveal? What is reality? Is there more than we know from our five senses? Vanguard scientists believe there is more than we see so they formulate a non-materialist paradigm that expands human potential, to include mind and matter interaction. Since going against the dominant worldview provokes opposition, this book explores the personal backgrounds of the scientists to find out why they are so courageous. We learn that there is another dimension that allows for enhanced abilities. Based on interviews conducted by Gayle Kimball, The Mysteries of Reality: Dialogues with Visionary Scientists reports on the current research and personal characteristics of visionaries from around the world.

Further information at the publisher's website: John Hunt Publishing.

From the publisher's website: In the world of parapsychology and psychical research Erlendur Haraldsson may well be remembered as one of the great investigators, particularly in field research. In a career spanning more than six decades Haraldsson worked with past luminaries such as J. B. Rhine, one of the founders of parapsychology and Ian Stevenson, whose work with children claiming past life experiences, has spawned much of the today’s reincarnation research.Towards the Unknown chronicles Haraldsson’s work in India, the Middle East, the US and Europe and includes his studies of the Indian spiritual teacher Sathya Sai Baba, the Icelandic medium, Indridi Indridason, deathbed visions, past-life cases and a whole array of psychic phenomena.

Further information at the publisher's website: White Crow Books. 

Review by Nemo C. Mörck

From the publisher's website: This book consists of a collection of essays informing readers as to the contemporary status of selected cutting-edge issues in parapsychology (or “psi research”). Each chapter comprehensively reviews a controversial topic from a critical stance, and updates its status based on the latest theoretical and empirical considerations. Chapter authors are authoritative experts in their fields who have captured the complexity and importance of their topics. This is a resource for both the serious scholar and interested follower of psi research, containing in-depth analyses and discussions of topics that cannot be found elsewhere. Topics include cross-examinations of psychical investigations; a meta-analysis of anomalous information collected by mediums; an examination of the relationships between parapsychology, quantum theory and neuroscience; and a study of psychics’ involvement in police investigations.

Further information at the publisher's website: McFarland. 

From the publisher's website: Manifesting Spirits is an exploration of contemporary trance and physical mediumship at a private spiritualist home-circle called the Bristol Spirit Lodge. Located in a garden on the outskirts of Bristol, the Lodge is a wooden shed specially constructed for the purposes of mediumship development and spirit communication. Through a combination of ethnographic observations in séances – including his own experiences of mediumship development – and interviews with spirits and their mediums, Hunter delves into a sub-urban world of trance states, ectoplasm, spirit lights and discarnate entities. Issues relating to altered states of consciousness, personhood, performance and the efficacy of ritual are examined in order to make sense of the processes by which spirits become manifest in social reality.

Further information at the publisher's website: AEON Books.

Investigations in regression.To past lives, investigating the facts behind the stories.To early life where the hidden causes of many people’s anxiety problems lie and by discovering them the problem can be removed.Jim Alexander became an expert in this field because he wanted to understand the phenomena and see if there is something more meaningful than our fragile physical existence.There are aspects of every case that are revealing and thought provoking. The first six (in Part One and Part Three) illustrate key parts of the past life memories phenomenon but the final two are particularly relevant.The Jenny Cockell case is very well known but this is the only time that detailed research has been conducted to assess its validity – and the research was carried out by the hypnotist involved.The final case presents very powerful evidence in support of reincarnation.Part Two makes the case for vastly increased use of Hypnotic Regression in the treatment of mental anxiety. Not the occasional worries or doubts we all have but the irrational fears and habits or beliefs that a significant number of people suffer from but where the help that is possible is ignored by most of the medical profession, who favour the use of drugs that merely suppress or the therapies that take years and rarely work. Taking this approach will save the NHS millions of pounds and help thousands of people enjoy a normal life without wasting years being let down by poor advice.The information in this book needs to be spread widely.

From the publisher's website: When it comes to the subjects of God and life after death, some people demand evidence that extends to absolute certainty. At the other extreme are those who are content with a belief based on emotion, instinct, or the opinion of higher authority, what is referred to as blind faith. In between are varying degrees of belief or certainty ranging from extreme skepticism to strong conviction. Discussions and debates on the two subjects are often interwoven, usually beginning with the implication that one must have proof of God before even considering the survival of consciousness at death. Since God, whatever He, She or It happens to be, is apparently beyond both human comprehension and mainstream science, the discussion or debate often stalls without proper consideration being given to the evidence strongly suggesting that consciousness does survive death in a larger life.

Further information at the publisher's website: White Crow Books.

Poltergeist - The Night Side of Physics is a close-up theoretical and scientific analysis of the activity that took place in the Bothell house. Spontaneous fires, stone-throwing, teleportation, apport, asporting, strange water puddle appearances, objects levitating, strange sounds - it's all here. How is the poltergeist able to perform these machinations? What's the mechanics behind it? Short answer. Not telekinesis. The Night Side of Physics is the first book ever to look at poltergeist activity through a quantum physics lens and, in doing so, come up with some startling revelations. New theories. The first paranormal book of its kind to combine known physics with the phenomenon known as poltergeist activity. Keith Linder has brought some new questions and new answers to the field. Let the conversation begin.

From the publisher's website: Over the past century and a half, a wealth of evidence has emerged that is consistent, at least, with the hypothesis of life after death.

• Near-death experiences
• Deathbed visions
• Mediumship
• Apparitions
• Past-life memories, and memories of a between-lives state

Yet even those who are inclined to take this evidence seriously may struggle to make sense of it. How can the idea of an afterlife be integrated into our everyday experience? How can we connect the seemingly nebulous notion of postmortem survival with the hard, tangible reality of life on earth?

Through metaphors, images, and analogies—illustrated with dozens of documented cases drawn from the literature of parapsychology—this book suggests ways of looking at life beyond death, not as a baffling anomaly, but as a logical extension of our experience of reality here and now.

Further information at the publisher's website: White Crow Books.

From the publisher's website: Parapsychological research has produced significant findings over the last few decades, and science has the obligation to continue exploring this area, seeking to contribute to the spiritual enlightenment of humanity. This book examines evidence of traditional psychic phenomena, promoting a more comprehensive understanding of them, and offering new perspective to see ourselves as particles of “universal energy,” interconnected with all others.

Further information at the publisher's website: McFarland.